First and foremost, BE CAREFUL on the lake! There is a ton of debris out there. It's getting better, but there are a lot of partially submerged logs and other things that could ruin your day in a hurry. On the good side of things, even with the fluctuating temperatures and water level, the fishing is still pretty good.

Largemouth - The recent big rains really pushed the largemouth deep into the cover. We did best fishing relatively close to the spawning areas. The majority of the fish are definitely on there way back out to bigger water from the shallow flats, but haven't gone too far yet. Pitching, skipping and flipping into the heavy cover was by far the biggest player. Very precise casting was vital to getting the bites. Those fish just weren't willing to go far to chase a bait this weekend.
Smallmouth - The smallies were numerous, but hard to catch. They would bite, but it was the softest I've ever had them hit. Fishing very slow was key. You would just feel weight and see your line move off. We also missed several fish. Adding scent to the lures helped a lot and I was able to capitalize on many more bites. The best concentrations of smallmouth was definitely close to the mouths of the creeks on the secondary points and little pockets.

Most productive lures - By far the best baits were the Missile Bait D-Bomb and Big Bite Baits Yo Momma in green pumpkin. Adding a tiny bit of Chartreuse spike it and some Pro-cure craw gel helped tremendously! it really got the fish to hold on long enough to get a hook in them. We only caught 1 fish on any kind of a reaction bait this week. I expect that to change in the coming weeks as the water temp and levels stabilize and more fish recover from the spawn.

I will be at Chickamauga for the next couple of weeks for the Air National Guard Bass Tournament hanging out and catching fish with my military buddies, so I won't be putting out a report for a little while. Check out Bass Whoopin Fishing on Facebook for some instructional videos and pictures of us cutting up!

Be sure to hit up Sun Tropic Outdoors and Lake country outdoors for the latest fishing info and gear.

Hope This report helps you put a whoopin' on em' !!!

Search Fishin.com

Recent Articles

This is my father Captain Sherman I Helmey of way back then Captain Helmey’s Charter Boat Company. He is sitting on a 1980 T-Craft that he had built in Titusville, Florida. The board that he is sitting on is actually a fine piece of teak wood, which my father has graciously... read more

I started guiding in 1990 & got my first 10 pound bass in 1992. This year marks 25 years since my first 10 pound bass. As far a I recall, I took pictures and/or video for every double digit bass I've boated since 1992 - totaling somewhere around 100 bass over 10 pounds.... read more

With the fall upon us the grass will slowly erode away opening up some ditches and roadbeds to more bait that can be dragged or swam over the areas that just a few weeks ago were stuck in thick grass. With this to me gives you several options to fish a football jig with techniques... read more

It’s common every year as the bass make changes in their locations and the fall weather starts to set in fishing gets tougher. This change is constant throughout my many years of history, the fall is always tougher and you must adapt to the changes. The reasons for this, has... read more

There are not many times in fishing when a knot can make a big difference in catching or missing a fish except in heavy grass. Sure the knot is always important it has to be strong and tied properly so it doesn’t break; the difference though is sometimes a knot can get in your... read more